For years, parents of children of toddler age have had to deal with the problem of feeding their children and, at the same time, keeping some degree of orderliness in the area while doing so. Children of the toddler age are often seated in a high chair and then fed by the parent or are allowed to feed themselves from a plate of food placed on a table tray attached to high chair. Parents desiring to train their children to feed themselves watch, without interfering, as the child awkwardly picks up the food and places it in its mouth. Unfortunately, not all the food is placed in the child's mouth, much of the food being dropped by the child over the edge of the tray table and landing on the floor. At some point in the child's development, parents will provide the child with utensils such as a spoon, a fork or a cup to continue the eating training. These utensils also find their way to the floor surrounding the high chair, soiling the floor and the utensil.
Many devices directed at preventing or lessening the mess created by dropped food and utensils are available in the prior art. These devices include trough-like shields, attached to the high chair, which extend from the rear extreme of the arm rest and around the table tray. While these trough like devices are effective to prevent food and utensils from dropping to the floor, they are difficult to adapt to the variety of high chairs available and are difficult to clean owing to their size and shape, and placement to other chairs at the table. They may also interfere with the proper functioning of the table tray which otherwise is easily unclipped and removed from the high chair. Additionally, food and/or utensils dropped by the child into the troughs typically remain within reach of the child such that the child is free to retrieve the food and/or utensils and cause further mess. Also, a high chair adapted with these devices takes on a greater peripheral dimension making the high chair cumbersome to move and to store. These devices also tend to interfere with the child's movement because of the placement of the device near the child's feet and legs.
Another device commonly used to protect the floor area adjacent the high chair is a flexible sheet that is placed directly on the floor and upon which the high chair is placed. These devices typical comprise a rectangularly shaped vinyl film. It may be clear or opaque and may be provided with decorative figures to make it more attractive. Food or utensils dropped by the child fails to the sheet. The sheet is effective to protect the floor from being soiled and prevents the utensil from becoming soiled. However, these devices tend to be difficult to clean because of their size and flexibility and do not move with the high chair when the high chair is moved to a different location and still force an adult down on their knees to clean the floor.
What is needed and what is not available is a food catch tray adapted for use with a high chair to protect the surrounding floor area from being soiled by food and utensils dropped by a child placed in and eating from the high chair. Furthermore, there is a need for a catch tray device that is easy to clean and that can be easily and conveniently stored. The device should be light in weight and easily maneuvered and positioned by a parent or caregiver so that material or things dropped on the catch tray do not remain within the child's reach. The needed catch tray should be mechanically simple and durable, safe to operate and preferably capable of being folded up and out of the way while still remaining attached to the high chair.